As I am preparing for our move to a new house, here are more houses from my past work.
Home means something different to each person – we all have different physical locations, memories, structures for our homes – and yet I think it is one of the most important concepts there is in our society. I know that my home, not just my house, but my home, means everything to me.
As I moved away from fabric work around 2000-2001, I took up collage work, and I did a few portraits in collage. But I eventually adopted the policy of not doing any commission work – I was busy enough with my own projects and could sell whatever I made, no longer needing the portrait work to keep me going. And to be honest, commission work is nerve-wracking. I just didn’t want to do it anymore.
The best-laid plans…
I did this house in paper collage. The buyer saw me at a show when I was still accepting assignments, we discussed the project, and nothing came of it until a year or so later when they contacted me, by which time I had decided no more…but. After some negotiation I agreed to do this one more house. It was a beach house in North Carolina.
Oh, guess what. My firm resolve to do no more commission work wobbled again. I made this portrait of a townhouse on Spruce Street in Philadelphia because the buyers had bought several other pieces from me and they were so nice about how they asked…Here it is. I really think this is the last one.
I believe you have seen most if not all of the commissioned portraits I’ve made over the years. But that doesn’t mean that I haven’t done a lot of other pictures with houses as the subject. Here is a small selection of portraits in collage.
All of these are real places, if not exactly adhering to color scheme or setting.
They are all somebody’s home.
Claudia McGill and Her Art World 
You are prolific. That collage of paper collaged houses is extremely beautiful. Just as well you gave up doing commissions, otherwise this remarkable collection may not have been created. Thank you for inspiring me yet again Claudia.
Thank you. That’s just how I felt, that if I kept doing other people’s ideas I would not have as much time for my own, and I’m glad I went this way, though at the time the money was a factor and I wondered if it was a good idea… But time has proven I have done the right thing and I’m glad for how it has worked out.
It was brave of you and I am delighted that it has worked out for you. Commissions can be constraining